New Fire Burns Remote Tundra Region of Alaska

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A new fire was spotted in Alaska's Noatak National Preserve by a National Park Service fire manager while looking at a computer screen with MODIS, satellite imagery that shows heat sources, according to a news release from Alaska Wildland Fire Management. The new fire has been named the Sidik Lake Fire and has burned 8,250 acres.

The fire is burning in tundra in a remote area of the preserve located 4 miles north of the Noatak River and 112 miles northeast of Noatak, Alaska which is 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Staff from the Alaska Fires Service and the National Park Service will be monitoring it, documenting fire behavior observations and mapping it from the air.

Recent research has revealed that fires on the tundra are a natural process. In the Noatak National Preserve, the fire return interval ranges from 140 to 260 years. Following the fire, cotton grass and willow sprout again, which is beneficial to small mammals and grazing animals.   


Author:Barbara Brooks - Fire Department Network News